


Five Avengers who had a crush on Steve Rogers (and the one he fell in love with).

by Katefkndoes



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Everyone loves Steve, F/M, Five Times, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-18
Updated: 2012-05-18
Packaged: 2017-11-05 14:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/407475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katefkndoes/pseuds/Katefkndoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Does exactly what it says on the tin.  Apparently everyone has a bit of a crush on Captain Rogers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Avengers who had a crush on Steve Rogers (and the one he fell in love with).

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by Sparklyfiend but there may still be mistakes because I changed bits after the beta.

**Bruce.  
**  
When Natasha finally caught up with Bruce and _persuaded_ him to return to America – under SHIELD’s watchful eye, of course – the first thing he asked, as he entered the secure compound, was whether he could take a look at the newly thawed out Super Soldier.   _So much for National Security_ , she’d thought, but there was something about the glint in the scientist’s eye that suggested his interest in Captain America was more than just a trifling one.  
  
At first the lower level agents denied him the opportunity, but once word reached Steve of Banner’s predicament and of SHIELD’s interest in his participation in the Avengers initiative, his request was quickly adhered to.  The Captain was nothing if not magnanimous and he offered himself up for everyone to consume as they wished – so why should a man with severe anger management issues be any different?  Perhaps it was because he was from a more romantic age, perhaps it was because he genuinely cared for people’s wishes, or perhaps he just realized his image was the key to controlling a group of civilians, either way no one was ever left wanting in Steve’s company.  
  
But Bruce’s reaction was by far the strongest Natasha had observed.  Sure, she knew they were all guilty of hero worship to a certain degree – even her -, but Banner looked upon Steve as though the blond was his own personal savior.  In fact, if Natasha had not seen it with her own eyes she might have found the reaction unbelievable, but she was pretty sure that Bruce fell in love with Steve the very first time he saw him.  
  
She had watched in fascination as the shorter man’s pupils grew wide and a grin stretched across his usually tense features.  It was hard to imagine such a reaction to be anything other than love at first sight – and it certainly wasn’t only because Steve was the only man whose genetic sequence might hold the key to a cure for Bruce’s Hulk problem.  The scientist seemed to come alive as they spoke in soft tones, as though Steve’s potential for greatness was reflected back through him.  
  
“I can’t tell you how good it is to meet you, Captain Rogers,” he said honestly, voice hitching as he did and proffering his hand, but if Steve noticed anything untoward he certainly wasn’t about to comment on it.  
  
“It’s a pleasure to work with you, Doctor Banner,” Steve grinned in response, firmly shaking Bruce’s hand before closing another hand over it with a gentle smile.  “I just hope I don’t disappoint you.”  
  
Natasha could practically see the stars in the Doctor’s eyes and it only got worse from thereon out.  As Clint had so delicately put it, Bruce ‘practically creamed’ every time Steve walked into the room, and while Natasha was nowhere near that tactless, she found it hard to dispute the accuracy of the description.

 

*************************

 

**Fury.  
**  
Okay, so Fury wasn’t exactly an Avenger but that didn’t stop him falling in love with Captain America.  As Clint observed, (once again, and the fact that he was so observant was probably because of his own affection for his commanding officer), rather crassly one evening after a few too many drinks, the Colonel “pops a boner every time the Cap turns up.”  The archer might have been a man of very few words but most of the words he uttered tended to lower the tone.  Although, that didn’t prevent his, somewhat _inappropriate_ , description of his General’s affections being correct.  
  
Of course, Clint chose to make just about everyone else aware of his - annoyingly _astute_ \- observations.  This in itself was not an issue.  Or at least not until, the rest of the Avengers started to document their own findings concerning the brief wave of pure affection that descended over Fury’s features whenever Steve made an appearance.  Stark’s constant smirks grew attention from the General, as did Natasha’s vaguely amused eyebrow arch, both of which ultimately caused Clint to snigger – and suffer a week of survival training for his trouble.  
  
Although Clint’s punishment was severe it didn’t stop the rest of the team from noticing.    
  
Coulson, after all, had not been privy to the archer’s comments, but it was clear from the slight tug at the corner of his mouth when Fury clapped Steve on the shoulder, or when Steve convinced Fury to adhere to his wishes, that the director’s crush had not escaped his attention.  This was a fact that only managed to further amuse those Avengers who were privy to the whispered conversations concerning the ‘Super Fury’ relationship dynamic.  
  
Thor was unaware what the meaningful looks between his teammates meant, (largely because he was about as subtle as a very large brick falling into a very quiet pond), since he probably would have let slip to Fury and earned them _all_ a week of unwanted survival training.  However, that didn’t stop him from laughing along, loudly, following the briefings when Fury’s penchant for a certain super-soldier was particularly obvious.  
  
Steve, of course, seemed completely unaware that he was the object of Fury’s affection.   Maybe he just couldn’t see the way the older man changed when his eye fell on him.

  
*************************

  
**Thor  
**  
Thor had once been considered a God by the people of Earth; he laughed easily and spoke without fear of judgment.  He spoke of his love of his ‘fair Jane’ as though he were narrating a Disney movie, and took great pleasure in regaling anyone who would listen to him about the depth of her beauty.  He liked to tell people that he had looked into the heart of the sun and had not been as dazzled as when he first looked at her, (although, as Darcy had pointed out, that may just have been because he’d just been hit by a camper van).  
  
Although his affections for the astrophysicist may have been strong, there had still been that one time that he had informed Tony, that there was another who merited his favor.  
  
“Steven has hair of spun sunshine,” he’d admitted after too much Asgardian ale.  (When Tony retold the story later on, -to anyone who would listen- , he spoke of his own shock and how he nearly blew up his lab, although his teammates remained unconvinced of either claim).  “Doth you not agree, Man of Iron?”  
  
The story spread quickly through the team and the admission only added to Clint’s burgeoning theory that Steve was innately loveable.  And once his feelings had been made public, it was clear to anyone who paid the demi-God anything more than a cursory glance that Thor held Captain America in strong regard.  He spoke to Steve as an equal and respected him as a leader, while he called other humans tiny and petty - ‘like stoats’, he had once opined.  Apparently even the Allspeak sometimes got lost in translation.  
  
Tony was absolutely convinced that this was largely because Steve was the only one among the ‘Midgardians’ who could offer Thor any sort of challenge in hand-to-hand combat.  This probably went a long way to explaining why the gym at SHIELD headquarters was standing room only when the two men sparred.  And suggested that Clint wasn’t the only member of the department who god a perverse kick out of watching two grown men rolling around and grappling each other.

 

*************************

  
**Clint  
**  
The archer claimed he was man enough to admit that he had a bit of a ‘mancrush’ on Captain America, and surmised that since most red-blooded American men probably spent a good proportion of their youth worshipping him, they felt the same.  Plus, he argued to anyone who dared to disagree, he got to work with his hero on a daily basis, and he got to witness what the super-soldier was capable of.  So it was only rational for him to have a man crush.  
  
However, the truth was that Steve Rogers was so much better than he had ever _dreamed_ Captain America would be.  As far as he was concerned the guy was pretty much perfect – and really, wasn’t that kind-of the point.  Not only was he a literal living legend and completely unaffected by it, but he was also a paragon of manliness who still managed to charm everyone who was fortunate enough to meet him.  
  
Plus, Clint had very nearly gone to his special place when Steve had made a perfect score on the target range, mere minutes after being shown the best way to utilize modern weaponry.    
  
Sure, part of him should have been jealous that the blond had only just been defrosted and was already giving him a run for his money on the target range, but the guy was _Captain America_ – it was pretty much a given that he was going to be a great fighter.  
  
Despite the unusual circumstances of his arrival to the twenty-first century, Steve also managed to couple his extraordinary abilities with humor and kindness.  In fact, despite his slightly archaic dress sense, he had adapted spectacularly to the transition, which earned him Clint’s respect because the archer knew if he were to be put in the same position his sanity would not fare as well.  The mere thought of waking up so out of time sent a shiver down his spine, which was no mean feat for a military trained sniper.  
  
As well as that, Steve always had such great stories, (unlike Stark’s stories that largely detailed his various conquests), such _interesting_ stories about the War, and about growing up in the Depression.    
And if, from time to time, a tear formed in Clint’s eye at those stories then he certainly wasn’t the only one affected, and it _clearly_ didn’t diminish his masculinity at all  
  
So, Clint was more than comfortable in admitting that if he swung that way, the good Captain would certainly be top of his hit list.

 

*************************

**  
Natasha**  
  
Natasha had not earned the codename Black Widow by being soft on the enemy.  She was a no-nonsense, hard-assed bitch, who had forced away her own emotions countless times to further her career.  Still, that didn’t mean that she was immune to the effects of a skin-tight uniform on an exceptionally good-looking man.  Steve was practically the living embodiment of Adonis, and he didn’t even seem to realize it, which only made him more attractive.

  
If the bright blue eyes, sculpted features and perfect musculature weren’t enough to convince her of his perfection, then his hand-to-hand combat skills certainly did.  She was a tough woman, and she was used to having the upper hand over any opponent.  That ended the moment she was tossed into the ring with him.  He pulled his punches at first (and probably still did to some degree, he was a super-soldier after all) but had smiled the first time she had knocked him to the mat and had stopped going so easy on her.  
  
But that wasn’t even what made her fall a little bit in love with him.  Hell, it barely figured into it at all.  She was used to being stared at, to being the object of the divisions misguided affections, and she was certainly used to people touching her ass in what they thought was a subtle manner – despite the fact that Clint spread around the story of the time she broke three of his fingers for doing exactly that.  So it was refreshing to find a man who didn’t objectify her, and wasn’t remotely afraid of her.  
  
Steve had an ability to see her as she was – and seemed to be the only one able to see her that way – a woman trying to make it in a man’s world.  
  
Sure, she might have threatened to shiv Clint (but everyone who’d spent as much time with him as her had probably considered it), and she may have stabbed Tony in the neck with a syringe ( _completely_ for his own benefit), but that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate it when a man opened a door for her.  And it certainly didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate receiving flowers on her birthday.  
  
Steve instinctively understood that just because she had to maintain the image of being the Black Widow, didn’t mean that she wasn’t a woman underneath – somewhere deep down.  He gave her the respect that seemed lost on the rest of the world, and he regarded her as an equal while still treating her like a lady.  Just simple things like how he’d never swear in front of her, and in battle he’d always protect her without stifling her.  (She deliberately doesn’t think about the time she punched Clint in the face for attempting to shield her back when they first met in Russian, because Steve Rogers is a man to make exceptions for.)  
  
It should have been exasperating, how flawless he was, but somehow Steve managed to pull it off.  
  


*************************

  
**+1 Tony Stark**  
  
Steve felt a connection to Tony almost the moment he first laid eyes on him, and not only because his face was achingly familiar in a world where there was precious little else to put Steve at ease.  The first time he met his former friend’s son was a complete accident – he found out later that SHIELD had been orchestrating his movements to prevent the meeting.  He had been called to Fury’s office for his weekly check-in session, it should have angered him that they were acting as though he was made of porcelain, but he couldn’t really blame them given the circumstances -most of time he wondered how he kept it together.  
  
Tony had been arguing – unscheduled – with Fury regarding his proposed overhaul of SHIELD’s security systems, and hadn’t even given him a second glance until the director, reluctantly, gave him the go ahead.  A familiar smirk covered Stark’s face following his victory and Steve knew who he was without introduction.  The smaller man whirled around, and made an obvious show of dissecting his appearance, judging him based solely on the civvies SHIELD had provided him, and practically undressing him with his eyes.  
  
“Big, dumb-looking and blond,” he nodded to himself, as though Steve couldn’t hear him.  “You must be Captain America.”  The genius smiled in a manner so obnoxious that it caused Fury to grit his teeth in exasperation, and patted Steve on the chest in a condescending manner.  “Heard you knew my dad, lucky you.”  He muttered, the venom in is voice betraying his cool exterior.  
  
It was hardly the most auspicious first meeting, and, if Steve was being perfectly honest with himself, it only went downhill from there.  Tony had a massive chip on his shoulder and was deliberately abrasive towards him in particular.  The engineer hated authority, loathed just about everything Steve stood for, and wasn’t afraid to make it obvious.  
  
The repellent behavior should have caused Steve to see sense, to appreciate that Tony Stark’s good opinion was never going to befall him.  But the truth of the matter was that it was refreshing to spend time with someone who didn’t see him as either an anachronism, or as paragon of integrity.  It was easy enough to fall into a twisted rhythm with Tony, biting comments and banter the staple in the holding pattern of their friendship -trapped on the edges of awesome.  Never quite ascending to something more, but never drifting far enough away to recover from Tony’s charms.  
  
For someone who had grown up during a period of both depression and repression, it was an entirely new sensation to have freedom to love who he wanted to, rather than who he was supposed to.  And despite the gnawing of impropriety in his gut, he realized fairly early on that he loved Tony Stark.  As time went on their intricate dance became renowned – with Barton being the chief instigator of the sly comments concerning their respective positions as mother and father to the Avengers.  
  
“You know,” Tony said one day, when they had left the children laughing over yet another inane comment concerning the nature of their relationship, “if only you were a woman, I’d see us getting married.”  Steve laughed in return, the sound practically choking him.  
  
Sometimes, he allowed himself to believe that it could ever be anything else other than an awkward dance, but statements like that reminded him of the crushing truth.  
  
The problem with standing for justice and truth was that Steve Rogers found it impossible to lie to himself.


End file.
